Mladen Milicevic (born 1958) is a Bosnian composer of

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary time-based medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBell ...

, and

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

. He is a professor and has been for many years the Chair of the Recording Arts Department at

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

in Los Angeles. He is best known for composing the score to the cult film ''

The Room ''The Room'' is a 2003 American independent romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Tommy Wiseau, who also stars in the film alongside Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. Set in San Francisco, the film is centered around a ...

''.

Early life and education

Born into a family of film-makers; his father was a

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

and his mother Zlata was a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

). Milicevic started playing piano when he was 6. He received a B.A. in music composition (1982) and an M.A. (1986) in music composition and multimedia arts from the

Sarajevo Music Academy The Sarajevo Music Academy or Music Academy , University of Sarajevo ( or MAS) is a Faculty of Music of University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. History Sarajevo Music Academy was founded by the Decision of the National Assembly of ...

, in his native

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, where he studied with Josip Magdic. Milicevic came to the United States in 1986 to study with

Alvin Lucier Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. (May 14, 1931 – December 1, 2021) was an American experimental composer and sound artist. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Ar ...

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in Connecticut, where he received his M.A. in experimental music composition (1988). After Wesleyan, he went to study at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

in Florida, where he received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in computer and experimental music composition in 1991. He also studied for several summers at the Aspen Music School/Festival with Michael Czajkowski.

Career

In the nineties, Milicevic has concentrated on live interactive

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

composition utilizing hyperinstruments. He was awarded several music prizes for his compositions in the former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

as well as in Europe. Milicevic worked in Yugoslavia as a freelance composer for 10 years, where he composed for theater, films, radio and television, also receiving several prizes for this body of work. Since he moved to the United States in 1986, Milicevic has performed his live electronic music, composed for modern dances, made several experimental animated films and videos, set up installations and video sculptures, had exhibitions of his paintings, and scored for films. His film music can be heard at his website.

Commercial work

In the former Yugoslavia, Milicevic (using the alias Igor Krik) produced the 1985 pop band, VALENTINO, that sold platinum. In 2003, he composed the score for the cult film ''

'', directed by

Tommy Wiseau Thomas Pierre Wiseau (born October 3, 1955) ( or ; born Tomasz Wieczorkiewicz ) is a Polish Americans, Polish-American actor and filmmaker. He is best-known for writing, producing, directing, and starring in the 2003 film ''The Room'', which ...

. He later wrote the score for Wiseau's 2004 documentary ''Homeless in America'', and in 2015, scored a documentary about ''The Room'', titled '' Room Full of Spoons''. In 2009, he also produced an album entitled ''I've Got a Song for You'' by

Rade Šerbedžija Rade Šerbedžija ( sr-Cyrl, Раде Шербеџија, ; born 27 July 1946) is a Croatian actor, director and musician. He is known for his portrayals of imposing figures on both sides of the law. He was one of the best known Yugoslav actors ...

and Miroslav Tadić. For this work, he was nominated for the Porin award in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

as the best-produced album. He scored a documentary,
Cuba: The Forgotten Revolution
', which won an Emmy in 2016.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milicevic, Mladen 1958 births Living people 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers American experimental composers Aspen Music Festival and School alumni Loyola Marymount University faculty University of Miami Frost School of Music alumni Wesleyan University alumni Musicians from Sarajevo Yugoslav emigrants to the United States Bosnia and Herzegovina composers Bosnia and Herzegovina film score composers American film score composers